· Richard Freudenstein might be going back to Australia, but he is probably not leaving NewsCorp. The word is that he will get either Foxtel or Murdoch's Australian papers to run as reward for his loyal service as number two at BSkyB. James Murdoch is understood to be heading back to the US next year to work more closely with pops as the new heir apparent, which leaves a gap at the top of Sky. Early money is on Tom Mockridge, CEO of Sky Italia, another Aussie. Meanwhile James's year-end bonus is still in the balance: the company has only 12 days left to reach the magical eight million subscriber mark it promised to shareholders by the end of 2005. Monkey hears it is a perilously close thing. So close, in fact, that customers who ring up to cancel their subscription are being offered all sorts of incentives to stay with Sky, including the half-price deal on offer to new customers. Mention the word Freeview and they'll offer to get Dawn Airey to come round and cook your Christmas dinner.

· Under its new editor Lionel Barber, the Financial Times has a distinctly macho feel about it. No, nothing to do with the reporting, but its backroom team. Since taking over the editorship of the FT last month, Barber has replaced the two women news editors (Deborah Hargreaves left the paper without a job to go to, and Tracy Corrigan has moved to another role), managing editor Diane Summers has resigned and former deputy editor Chrystia Freeland has moved sideways to the US. Indeed, the recent departures mean that out of Barber's 10-strong editorial management team, Freeland is the only woman - and she will be based in New York.

· To the What the Papers Say Awards, where host and newly- appointed head of ITV production John Whiston found out just what a tough crowd a bunch of hacks can be. He did raise a chuckle when he asked what the newspaper equivalent of haemorrhaging viewers was. "Oh yes, the Express." Except Express editor Peter Hill wasn't impressed, and in an eye-popping confrontation after the ceremony, told Whiston he would never forgive him and would never write about his programmes again. Whiston's plea that it was only a joke and that he had already apologised in his speech fell on deaf ears. How the Express will survive without ITV's relentless diet of celebrity reality shows is another matter.

· Sun editor Rebekah Wade has a history of being peeved at awards ceremonies (remember the fake sheikh?), and Friday's awards were no different. It could have been a coincidence - perhaps deputy editor Fergus Shanahan told a funny joke - but snorts of laughter from the Sun table greeted the three nominations for paper of the year, none of which was the Sun. There was another titter when presenter Andrew Rawnsley said the winning paper had "the best stories", and a shaking of heads after Times editor Robert Thomson went up to pick up his award. Poor show. It capped a miserable day for the tabloid, which failed to pick up a single award. What odds a boycott of next year's ceremony?

· Monkey's quote of the week: "Don't go in there. It is wall-to-wall evil. They are all either ex-alcoholics or about to become alcoholics. You are missing nothing." Paul O'Grady on the British Comedy Awards.

· Bad news for Crème "Tyler" Brûlé, whose must-watch BBC4 media show The Desk (what do you mean you didn't see it?) has not been recommissioned. But the good news for the former Wallpaper editor is that he has landed another BBC4 series, Counter Culture, a look at capitalism and global consumerism "exploring how the business of buying, selling, branding and rebranding reveals our true colours". Brolly is to visit Japan, Sweden, Russia, Italy, Libya and the USA. Never mind the viewing figures, think of the air miles! BBC4, meanwhile, is looking for new ways of covering the media. Here's a hint: hire some people who know about the subject.

· It is never easy meeting new faces at Christmas parties. All that music and noise and everything. So spare a thought for the Talkback Thames staffer who was introduced to chief executive Lorraine Heggessey, misheard her surname and referred to her for the rest of the night as the "head of stationery".